There are many considerations that people make when they decide to purchase a product or service.
In many cases, these considerations are obvious: How much does it cost? How effective is the product or reliable the service? Which one gives me the best combination of quality and cost-efficiency? You have likely asked these questions if you’ve been in that situation. Or, if you own a business in the UK, you’ve likely been on the other end, trying to provide the best for customers looking for these qualities.
But another major consideration for people when they decide to buy a product or employ someone to perform a service is whether or not it comes from a local source. This idea, which may actually damage to the economy overall, can mean loyalty to products produced within one’s own country, or it can even mean using vendors that come from the person’s hometown or a neighboring one in preference to those from further away. Businesses who wish to procure these people as customers need to understand this local loyalty to better take advantage of it.
One way to do so is to utilize a virtual telephone number which simulates a local landline from whatever area you choose. Here are other factors to consider when trying gaining a foothold with people who prefer doing business locally instead of nationally or internationally.
Trust Factor
When a person sets out to buy something, he or she often likes to feel a certain amount of trust that the product is being made with care or the services are being rendered in good faith. People tend to trust what they know what they don’t. So it makes sense that they trust local businesses sometimes more than those coming from overseas or even across the country. If you want to gain the business of such people, you have to find ways of establishing that trust, even from a distance.
Supporting the Community
People who buy locally often do so for altruistic reasons more than anything else. They feel that they are giving back to the community in which they live by doing this. Maybe they are even friends with some of the local vendors with whom they do business. That is a difficult factor for businesses trying to infiltrate from afar to handle, but efforts must be made to convert even the most stubbornly local purchasers.
Fear of Big Business
This is one area where a business trying to move across borders, be they regional or national, might be able to sway customers who favor buying local. Many people tend to see someone who is crossing boundaries to sell them products as a conglomerate or major corporation that might not have their best interests at heart. By effectively marketing a vision of your business as a kind of firm that cares for all their customers, you should be able to combat such fears.
Understanding the mindset of your customer base is an important aspect of the business. If your customers want to stay local and you’re not, you have to first accept and understand their reasons why before you can try to counteract them.
